Everards revives historic brewing name in latest Project William partnership

The Pheasant in Wellington has been bought by Everards in partnership with David Goldingay, founder of Ironbridge Brewery.

Goldingay will run the pub and is also relocating Ironbridge Brewery to a new 12-barrel plant based at the pub, which he will call Wrekin Brewing Company Ltd.

Wrekin Brewery was established in Wellington in 1870 and shut down by Greenall Whitley in 1969. Goldingay also plans to retain the Ironbridge Brewery brand.

Everards has invested £390,000 in The Pheasant, including acquisition of the previously struggling pub, plus refurbishment and addition of the brewery. Of that sum, £20,000 was a building regeneration grant from Shropshire County Council. Wrekin Brewing Company is investing £55,000 in the project.

Revival​

“Reviving the Wrekin name feels right seeing as we are moving the brewery from Ironbridge to Wellington,” said Goldingay, who has run The Old Fighting Cocks in Oakengates, Shropshire in partnership with Everards since 2010. “The plan is to bring back some of the old Wrekin beers and later this year we’re hoping to drill a bore hole to access the aquifer that the original Wrekin Brewery used.”

Goldingay, whose Old Fighting Cocks operates a ‘bring your own food’ policy said The Pheasant would be a slightly different proposition to his first Project William venue.

He said: “The Pheasant will serve lunches from its new kitchen and open from 10am for coffee. It will also have nine cask ales and ten keg beers, including several craft keg brews. The keg beers will be served from a copper-panelled ‘beer wall’ behind the bar, which will display all the taps in a row.”

Project William, named after Everards’ 19th century founder, is a scheme in which the family-owned Leicestershire brewer teams up with microbreweries and ‘cask ale champions’ to purchase and revive struggling or failed pubs.